In Mosul orphanage, ISIS groomed child soldiers

Children, aged from three to 16 and mostly Shia Muslims or minority Yazidis kidnapped during ISIS invasion to Mosul, were brainwashed and began referring to their own families as apostates after they were schooled in hard-line Sunni schools by the militant fighters.

Children, aged from three to 16 and mostly Shia Muslims or minority Yazidis kidnapped during ISIS invasion to Mosul, were brainwashed and began referring to their own families as apostates after they were schooled in hard-line Sunni schools by the militant fighters.

The boys were separated from the girls and infants, undergoing indoctrination and training to become “cubs of the caliphate” – a network of child informers and fighters used by the jihadists to support their military operations.

The complex in Mosul’s Zuhur district, which had been home to local orphans until they were kicked out by ISIS, was one of several sites the jihadists used across the city.

ISIS withdrew before Iraqi forces launched a U.S.-backed offensive in October to retake the city, but during a Reuters visit last month there were still reminders of the group’s attempt to brainwash dozens of children.